Letter: Trust scientists on hydrofracking

To the editor

Published 5:59 pm, Saturday, April 13, 2013

FILE - In this June 25, 2012 file photo, a crew works on a gas drilling rig at a well site for shale based natural gas in Zelienople, Pa. As the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," mobilizes thousands around the country both for and against the process, industry and some environmental groups in Illinois have come together to draft regulations both sides could live with. Some hope that cooperative approach could be a model for other states. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

Your editorial "Yes, a drilling moratorium," March 26, ignores 29 other states that safely allow drilling for natural gas.

Continually advocating for more study on gas development while not also indicating the scientific bar to be reached for acceptance now constitutes a practical means of obstruction that political opponents use against fossil fuel development in general.

The obstruction ignores the fact that New York relies heavily on natural gas to replace heating oil for its energy needs or that the state's top geologist spoke of the "gift" of natural gas because it reduces carbon dioxide emissions.

The state has an obligation to review the industries within its borders in a timely and complete fashion. With respect to natural gas, there has been a four-year and now an eight-month review without a road map to completion. Rather than collaborate and innovate with industry, as other states do with respect to natural gas development, New York appears to have chosen the opposite.

Use of natural gas will only increase as Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Energy Highway and the PlaNYC 2030 plans both call for increased reliance on natural gas.

The state would be prudent to trust its scientific regulators because, if it doesn't, why should the general public have confidence in state regulatory abilities? It is time for the scientific minds working for the state to be heard and for elected officials to act accordingly.

As long as activist celebrities and self-appointed experts get more credibility by our public officials than scientists with decades of relevant experience, the state will fail to arrive at proper decisions based on science.